Newark superintendent finally applies the Golden Rule to gay teen

By Diane Silver

I'm pleased to see that the head of the Newark School District met today with a high school student and apologized in person for ordering the teen's photo blacked out from his yearbook.

The photo showed Andre Jackson and his boyfriend kissing. It was contained in a yearbook that included many shots of heterosexual students kissing.

After first apologizing only via a news release, the superintendent spoke to student Andre Jackson and his graduating class at East Side High School in New Jersey, AP reports.

The personal attention shows class and commitment to treating all people decently. It's about time someone remembered the importance of the Golden Rule.

Being treated fairly and decently, just as anyone else wants, is all LGBT people want. Nothing more and absolutely nothing less.

More details on what happened is in this previous post.

Kansas Voice: Gay Kansas and the Greensburg tornado

Wherein Kansas Voice looks at the devastation of Greensburg and neighboring areas, how it has impacted local LGBT people and straight allies, and the incredible respect shown to one gay man who lost the last bits of his life in the tornado.

Courage and Gay Pride

By Diane Silver

I am an unapologetic fan of the 1990’s TV show Xena Warrior Princess. I love the steely look in her ice blue eyes. I love Xena’s confidence and her cocky strength. I love the endless snuggles with sidekick Gabrielle, but most of all I love six little words that introduced every episode.

“Her courage,” an announcer said about Xena, “will save the world.”

Saving the world is in the job description of fantasy heroes like Xena. The hero conquers the bad guys, while the masses (that would be everyday folk like you and me) are either being rescued or applauding.

As we celebrate Gay Pride this month, though, I think we need to acknowledge what each of us has done for the world. Whether we are politicians, generals, community leaders, doctors, lawyers, artists, teachers or janitors, we have all made a difference Every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered person is just as much a hero as Xena. And, yes, our courage is truly changing the world.

What every one of us has done is to make our own heroic journey. Depending on our age, the attitudes of our communities and the religious background of our families, we may well have even battled against great odds for our physical survival. At the very least, we have emerged victorious from a psychological struggle that heterosexuals don’t have to face.

In case you haven’t guessed yet, I’m talking about the act of coming out. Every single LGBT person on the planet has done it. We may only have come out to ourselves, or we may have broadcast the news as Ellen DeGeneres’ TV character did in 1997, but we have all come out.

Each of us has had the courage to accept our own truth in a society that says we are evil, sinful, stupid, immoral, shallow, perverse, criminal, mean, lonely, sad, doomed, twisted, inadequate, sick and on and on.

I came out nearly 30 years ago, and I remember the terror as if it were yesterday. I didn’t know a single person who was gay. We weren’t on TV or in the movies then. There were no models of what my life would be if I admitted I was a lesbian, yet I, thankfully, made a leap of faith.

To come out is to be born from a struggle for authenticity. Today there are role models, books and support groups. Young men and women may find it easier to accept their orientation. Until hate mongers go out of business, though, struggle and fear will not completely disappear from the act of coming out.

To come out is to wrestle an authentic identify away from a culture that wants you to be someone else. That struggle makes us all heroes. More than that, it provides a model for a culture that is in desperate need of honesty.

We are surrounded by people who are afraid to be who they are. They are secret adventurers who toil as accountants because they fear being without a paycheck. They are spouses pretending to love partners they long ago learned to hate. They are 18-year-olds going off to college because they’re too afraid to tell their parents what they really want. They are doctors who yearn to be farmers; lawyers who daydream of becoming ministers; and all the people who live lies because they can’t face who they really are.

I don’t think it’s an accident that the phrase “coming out” has become a kind of code for being authentic. I’ve heard people talk about coming out in ways that have nothing to do with sexual orientation. I’ve even heard people talk about “coming out as a conservative” or “coming out as a Christian.”

Whether you attend gay pride, hang out a rainbow flag or ignore the celebration completely this month, take a moment. Think about your own heroic journey, and thank yourself for having the courage to be.
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This column is being published this month by The Liberty Press and Camp KC. Regular blogging resumes soon.

Ann Coulter's mouth & what it feels like to be despised & gay

Andrew Sullivan talks about what it was like to be in the room when Ann Coulter made her "faggot" comment:

I felt the atmosphere personally. It was an ugly atmosphere, designed to make any gay man or woman in the room feel marginalized and despised. To put it simply, either conservatism is happy to be associated with that atmosphere, or it isn't.

Sunday Gay Reads: Teens struggle, The Castro transforms & all mourn the passing of Barbara Gittings

By Diane Silver

Life can still be hard for lesbian and gay teens, but increasing numbers are coming out earlier than ever before. Two teenagers write about it at The Indianapolis Star.

Under the category of Problems We Never Expected To See comes today's San Francisco Chronicle story about how The Castro is being integrated by straights. The story also notes that other once-gay urban enclaves are beginning to break up as lesbians and gays find greater acceptance.

The Washington Post mourns the loss of rights pioneer Barbara Gittings. Before Stonewall and long before Ellen, Elton and Will and Grace, Gittings and 25 other lesbians and gay men picketed the White House protesting employment discrimination in the federal government. Gittings went on to become the mother of the rights movement.

She died of breast on Feb. 18 at age 75. At her bedside was her life partner of 46 years, Kay Tobin Lahusen.

In an editorial, The Post notes:

Asked how Ms. Gittings would want to be remembered, Ms. Lahusen said that Ms. Gittings "would want to be remembered for the love she leaves behind. Love of the cause, the gay community; love of justice; love of music and books; and love for me."

The photo is of Gittings picketing the White House in 1965.

Under the category of my broken gaydar, Suze Orman comes out

by Diane Silver

Oh my, did I miss this one. Financial advisor extraordinaire Suze Orman comes out in the Sunday New York Times. I never once pegged her for a lesbian.